The Tempest (1610)
by William Shakespeare

 

Dramatis Personae

ALONSO: King of Naples.
SEBASTIAN: his brother.
PROSPERO: the right Duke of Milan.
ANTONIO: his brother, the usurping Duke of Milan.
FERDINAND: son to the King of Naples.
GONZALO: an honest old Counsellor.
ADRIAN and
FRANCISCO Lords
CALIBAN: a savage and deformed Slave.
TRINCULO: a Jester.
STEPHANO: a drunken Butler.
Master of a Ship.
Boatswain. 
Mariners.
MIRANDA: daughter to Prospero.
ARIEL: an airy Spirit.

SPIRITS:
IRIS: 
CERES: 
JUNO:
Nymphs: 
Reapers: 
and Other Spirits attending on Prospero.

 

SCENE: A ship at Sea: an island.



ACT I SCENE I: The Tempest (Study Guide)

On a ship at sea: a tempestuous noise of thunder and lightning heard.
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

Boatswain: Heigh, my hearts! cheerly, cheerly, my hearts!
yare, yare! Take in the topsail. Tend to the
master's whistle Blow, till thou burst thy wind,
if room enough!

{Enter the Courtiers}

ALONSO: Good boatswain, have care! Where is the master?

Boatswain: I pray now, keep below.

ANTONIO: Where is the master, boatswain?

Boatswain: Do you not hear him? You mar our labour: 
keep your cabins: you do assist the storm.

GONZALO: Nay, good, be patient.

Boatswain: When the sea is. Hence! What cares these roarers
for the name of king? To cabin: silence! trouble us not.

GONZALO: Good, yet remember whom thou hast aboard.

Boatswain: None that I more love than myself. You are a
counsellor; if you can command these elements to
silence, and work the peace of the present, we will
not hand a rope more; use your authority: if you
cannot, give thanks you have lived so long, and make
yourself ready in your cabin for the mischance of
the hour, if it so hap. Cheerly, good hearts! Out
of our way, I say.

GONZALO (aside): I have great comfort from this fellow: 
If he be not born to be hanged, our case is miserable.

Boatswain: Down with the topmast! yare! lower, lower! Bring
her to try with main-course.

[A cry within.]

A plague upon this howling! they are louder than
the weather or our office.

{Re-enter SEBASTIAN, ANTONIO, and GONZALO.}

Yet again! what do you here? Shall we give o'er
and drown? Have you a mind to sink?

SEBASTIAN: A pox o' your throat, you bawling, blasphemous, incharitable dog!

Boatswain: Work you then.

ANTONIO: Hang, cur! hang, you whoreson, insolent noisemaker!
We are less afraid to be drowned than thou art.

GONZALO: I'll warrant him for drowning; though the ship were
no stronger than a nutshell and as leaky as an unstanched wench.

Boatswain: Lay her a-hold, a-hold! set her two courses off to sea again; lay her off.

{A Crash!} {Enter Mariners wet.}

Mariners: All lost! to prayers, to prayers! all lost! 

Boatswain: What, must our mouths be cold?

SEBASTIAN: I'm out of patience.

ANTONIO: We are merely cheated of our lives by drunkards:

GONZALO: He'll be hang'd yet!

[A confused noise within: 'Mercy on us!'--
'We split, we split!'--'Farewell, my wife and children!'--
'Farewell, brother!'--'We split, we split, we split!']

ANTONIO: Let's all sink with the king.

SEBASTIAN: Let's take leave of him.

[Exeunt ANTONIO and SEBASTIAN.]

GONZALO: Now would I give a thousand furlongs of sea for an
acre of barren ground, long heath, brown furze, any thing. 
The wills above be done! but I would fain die a dry death.

[Exeunt.]


ACT I Scene II: Prospero's Cell
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

Part One: the dark backward and abysm of time (Study Guide)


{Enter PROSPERO and MIRANDA.}

MIRANDA: If by your art, my dearest father, you have
Put the wild waters in this roar, allay them.
The sky, it seems, would pour down stinking pitch,
But that the sea, mounting to the welkin's cheek,
Dashes the fire out. O, I have suffered
With those that I saw suffer: a brave vessel,
Who had, no doubt, some noble creature in her,
Dash'd all to pieces. O, the cry did knock
Against my very heart.

PROSPERO: Be collected:
No more amazement: tell your piteous heart
There's no harm done.

MIRANDA: O, woe the day!

PROSPERO: No harm.
I have done nothing but in care of thee,
Of thee, my dear one, thee, my daughter, who
Art ignorant of what thou art, nought knowing
Of whence I am, nor that I am more better
Than Prospero, master of a full poor cell, 
And thy no greater father

MIRANDA: More to know
Did never meddle with my thoughts.

PROSPERO: 'Tis time
I should inform thee farther. Lend thy hand,
And pluck my magic garment from me. So:

[Lays down his mantle.]

Lie there, my art. Wipe thou thine eyes; have comfort.
The direful spectacle of the wreck, which touch'd
The very virtue of compassion in thee,
I have with such provision in mine art
So safely ordered that there is no soul--
No, not so much perdition as an hair 
Betid to any creature in the vessel
Which thou heard'st cry, which thou saw'st sink.
Sit down;
For thou must now know farther.

MIRANDA: You have often
Begun to tell me what I am, but stopp'd
And left me to a bootless inquisition,
Concluding 'Stay: not yet.'

PROSPERO: The hour's now come;
The very minute bids thee ope thine ear;
Obey and be attentive. Canst thou remember
A time before we came unto this cell?
I do not think thou canst, for then thou wast not 
Out three years old.

MIRANDA: Certainly, sir, I can.

PROSPERO: By what? by any other house or person?

MIRANDA: 'Tis far off
And rather like a dream ... had I not
Four or five women once that tended me?

PROSPERO: Thou hadst, and more, Miranda. But how is it
That this lives in thy mind? What seest thou else
In the dark backward and abysm of time? 
If thou remember'st aught ere thou camest here,
How thou camest here thou mayst.

MIRANDA: But that I do not.

PROSPERO: Twelve year since, Miranda, twelve year since,
Thy father was the Duke of Milan and
A prince of power.

MIRANDA: Sir, are not you my father?

PROSPERO: Thy mother was a piece of virtue, and
She said thou wast my daughter; and thy father
Was Duke of Milan; and thou his only heir
And princess no worse issued.

MIRANDA: O the heavens!
What foul play had we, that we came from thence? 
Or blessed was't we did?

PROSPERO: Both, both, my girl:
By foul play, as thou say'st, were we heaved thence,
But blessedly holp hither:
My brother and thy uncle, call'd Antonio--
I pray thee, mark me--that a brother should
Be so perfidious!--he whom next thyself
Of all the world I loved and to him put
The manage of my state; as at that time 
Through all the signories it was the first
And Prospero the prime duke, being so reputed
In dignity, and for the liberal arts
Without a parallel; those being all my study,
The government I cast upon my brother
And to my state grew stranger, being transported
And rapt in secret studies. Thy false uncle--
Dost thou attend me?

MIRANDA: Sir, most heedfully.

PROSPERO: Being once perfected how to grant suits,
How to deny them, who to advance and who 
To trash for over-topping, set all hearts i' the state
To what tune pleased his ear; Thou attend'st not!

MIRANDA: O, good sir, I do.

PROSPERO: I pray thee, mark me.
I, thus neglecting worldly ends, all dedicated
To closeness and the bettering of my mind 
In my false brother
Awaked an evil nature; He being thus lorded,
Not only with what my revenue yielded,
But what my power might else exact, he did believe
He was indeed the duke! Dost thou hear!

MIRANDA: Your tale, sir, would cure deafness.

PROSPERO: To have no screen between this part he play'd
And him he play'd it for, he confederates--
So dry he was for sway--wi' the King of Naples
To give him annual tribute, do him homage,
Subject my coronet to his crown and bend
The dukedom yet unbow'd--alas, poor Milan!--
To most ignoble stooping.

MIRANDA: O the heavens!

PROSPERO: Tell me if this might be a brother.

MIRANDA: I should sin
To think but nobly of my grandmother:
Good wombs have borne bad sons.

PROSPERO: This King of Naples, being an enemy
To me inveterate, hearkens my brother's suit;
Which was, that he, in lieu o' the premises
Of homage and I know not how much tribute,
Should presently extirpate me and mine
Out of the dukedom and confer fair Milan
With all the honours on my brother: whereon,
A treacherous army levied, one midnight
Fated to the purpose did Antonio open
The gates of Milan, and, i' the dead of darkness, 
The ministers for the purpose hurried thence
Me and thy crying self.

MIRANDA: Wherefore did they not
That hour destroy us?

PROSPERO: Well demanded, wench:
My tale provokes that question. Dear, they durst not, 
So dear the love my people bore me, nor set
A mark so bloody on the business, but
With colours fairer painted their foul ends.
In few, they hurried us aboard a bark,
Bore us some leagues to sea; where they prepared
A rotten carcass of a boat, not rigg'd,
Nor tackle, sail, nor mast; the very rats
Instinctively had quit it: there they hoist us,
To cry to the sea that roar'd to us, to sigh
To the winds whose pity, sighing back again, 
Did us but loving wrong.

MIRANDA: Alack, what trouble
Was I then to you!

PROSPERO: O, a cherubim
Thou wast that did preserve me. Thou didst smile.
Infused with a fortitude from heaven,
When I have deck'd the sea with drops full salt.

MIRANDA: How came we ashore?

PROSPERO: By Providence divine.
Some food we had and some fresh water that 
A noble Neapolitan, Gonzalo,
Out of his charity, being then appointed
Master of this design, did give us, with
Rich garments, linens, stuffs and necessaries,
Which since have steaded much; so, of his gentleness,
Knowing I loved my books, he furnish'd me
From mine own library with volumes that
I prize above my dukedom.

MIRANDA: Would I might
But ever see that man!

PROSPERO: Now I arise:

[Resumes his mantle.]

Sit still, and hear the last of our sea-sorrow. 
Here in this island we arrived; and here
Have I, thy schoolmaster, made thee more profit
Than other princesses can that have more time
For vainer hours and tutors not so careful.

MIRANDA: Heavens thank you for't! And now, I pray you, sir,
For still 'tis beating in my mind, your reason
For raising this sea-storm?

PROSPERO: Know thus far forth.
By accident most strange, bountiful Fortune,
Now my dear lady, hath mine enemies
Brought to this shore; and by my prescience 
I find my zenith doth depend upon
A most auspicious star, whose influence
If now I court not but omit, my fortunes
Will ever after droop. Here cease more questions:
Thou art inclined to sleep; 'tis a good dulness,
And give it way: I know thou canst not choose.

[MIRANDA sleeps.]

Part Two: Ariel (Study Guide)

Come away, servant, come. I am ready now.
Approach, my Ariel, come.

{Enter ARIEL.}

ARIEL: All hail, great master! grave sir, hail! I come
To answer thy best pleasure; be't to fly, 
To swim, to dive into the fire, to ride
On the curl'd clouds, to thy strong bidding task
Ariel and all his quality.

PROSPERO: Hast thou, spirit,
Perform'd to point the tempest that I bade thee?

ARIEL: To every article.
I boarded the king's ship; now on the beak,
Now in the waist, the deck, in every cabin,
I flamed amazement: sometime I'ld divide,
And burn in many places; on the topmast,
The yards and bowsprit, would I flame distinctly, 
Then meet and join. Jove's lightnings, the precursors
O' the dreadful thunder-claps, more momentary
And sight-outrunning were not; the fire and cracks
Of sulphurous roaring the most mighty Neptune
Seem to besiege and make his bold waves tremble,
Yea, his dread trident shake.

PROSPERO: My brave spirit!
Who was so firm, so constant, that this coil
Would not infect his reason?

ARIEL: Not a soul
But felt a fever of the mad and play'd
Some tricks of desperation. All but mariners 
Plunged in the foaming brine and quit the vessel,
Then all afire with me: the king's son, Ferdinand,
With hair up-staring,--then like reeds, not hair,--
Was the first man that leap'd; cried, 'Hell is empty
And all the devils are here.'

PROSPERO: Why that's my spirit!
But was not this nigh shore?

ARIEL: Close by, my master.

PROSPERO: But are they, Ariel, safe?

ARIEL: Not a hair perish'd;
On their sustaining garments not a blemish,
But fresher than before: and, as thou badest me,
In troops I have dispersed them 'bout the isle. 
The king's son have I landed by himself;
Whom I left cooling of the air with sighs
In an odd angle of the isle and sitting,
His arms in this sad knot.

PROSPERO: Of the king's ship
The mariners say how thou hast disposed.

ARIEL: Safely in harbour
Is the king's ship; in the deep nook, where once
Thou call'dst me up at midnight to fetch dew
From the still-vex'd Bermoothes, there she's hid:
The mariners all under hatches stow'd; 
Who, with a charm join'd to their suffer'd labour,
I have left asleep.

PROSPERO: Ariel, thy charge
Exactly is perform'd: but there's more work.
What is the time o' the day?

ARIEL: Past the mid season.

PROSPERO: At least two glasses. The time 'twixt six and now 
Must by us both be spent most preciously.

ARIEL: Is there more toil? Since thou dost give me pains,
Let me remember thee what thou hast promised,
Which is not yet perform'd me.

PROSPERO: How now? moody?
What is't thou canst demand?

ARIEL: My liberty.

PROSPERO: Before the time be out? no more!

ARIEL: I prithee,
Remember I have done thee worthy service;
Told thee no lies, made thee no mistakings, served
Without or grudge or grumblings: thou didst promise
To bate me a full year.

PROSPERO: Dost thou forget 
From what a torment I did free thee?

ARIEL: No.

PROSPERO: Thou dost, and think'st it much to tread the ooze
Of the salt deep,
To run upon the sharp wind of the north,
To do me business in the veins o' the earth
When it is baked with frost.

ARIEL: I do not, sir.

PROSPERO: Thou liest, malignant thing! Hast thou forgot
The foul witch Sycorax, who with age and envy
Was grown into a hoop? hast thou forgot her?

ARIEL: No, sir.

PROSPERO: Thou hast. I must
Once in a month recount what thou hast been,
Which thou forget'st. This damn'd witch Sycorax,
For mischiefs manifold and sorceries terrible
Thou know'st, was banish'd: Is not this true?

ARIEL: Ay, sir.

PROSPERO: This blue-eyed hag was hither brought with child
And here was left by the sailors. Thou, my slave, 
As thou report'st thyself, wast then her servant;
And, for thou wast a spirit too delicate
To act her earthy and abhorr'd commands,
Refusing her grand hests, she did confine thee
Into a cloven pine; within which rift
Imprison'd thou didst painfully remain
A dozen years; within which space she died
And left thee there; where thou didst vent thy groans 
As fast as mill-wheels strike. Then was this island--
Save for the son that she did litter here,
A freckled whelp hag-born--not honour'd with
A human shape.

ARIEL: Yes, Caliban her son.

PROSPERO: Dull thing, I say so; he, that Caliban
Whom now I keep in service. Thou best know'st
What torment I did find thee in; thy groans
Did make wolves howl and penetrate the breasts
Of ever angry bears: it was a torment
To lay upon the damn'd, which Sycorax 
Could not again undo: it was mine art,
When I arrived and heard thee, that made gape
The pine and let thee out.

ARIEL: I thank thee, master.

PROSPERO: If thou more murmur'st, I will rend an oak
And peg thee in his knotty entrails till
Thou hast howl'd away twelve winters.

ARIEL: Pardon, master;
I will be correspondent to command
And do my spiriting gently.

PROSPERO: Do so, and after two days
I will discharge thee.

ARIEL: That's my noble master!
What shall I do? say what; what shall I do?

PROSPERO: Go make thyself like a nymph o' the sea: be subject
To no sight but thine and mine, invisible
To every eyeball else. Go take this shape!

[Exit ARIEL.]

Part Three: Caliban (Study Guide)

Awake, dear heart, awake! thou hast slept well;
Awake!

MIRANDA: The strangeness of your story put
Heaviness on me.

PROSPERO: Shake it off. Come on;
We'll visit Caliban my slave.

MIRANDA: 'Tis a villain, sir,
I do not love to look on.

PROSPERO: But, as 'tis, 
We cannot miss him: he does make our fire,
Fetch in our wood and serves in offices
That profit us. What, ho! slave! Caliban!
Thou earth, thou! speak.

CALIBAN: [Within] There's wood enough within.

PROSPERO: Come forth, I say! there's other business for thee:
Come, thou tortoise! when?

{Re-enter ARIEL like a water-nymph.}

Fine apparition! My quaint Ariel,
Hark in thine ear.

ARIEL: My lord it shall be done.

[Exit.]

PROSPERO: Thou poisonous slave, got by the devil himself
Upon thy wicked dam, come forth! 

{Enter CALIBAN.}

CALIBAN: As wicked dew as e'er my mother brush'd
With raven's feather from unwholesome fen
Drop on you both! a south-west blow on ye
And blister you all o'er!

PROSPERO: For this, be sure, to-night thou shalt have cramps,
Side-stitches that shall pen thy breath up; urchins
Shall, for that vast of night that they may work,
All exercise on thee; thou shalt be pinch'd
As thick as honeycomb, each pinch more stinging
Than bees that made 'em.

CALIBAN: This island's mine, by Sycorax my mother,
Which thou takest from me. When thou camest first,
Thou strokedst me and madest much of me, wouldst give me
Water with berries in't, and teach me how
To name the bigger light, and how the less,
That burn by day and night: and then I loved thee
And show'd thee all the qualities o' the isle,
The fresh springs, brine-pits, barren place and fertile:
Cursed be I that did so! All the charms
Of Sycorax, toads, beetles, bats, light on you! 
For I am all the subjects that you have,
Which first was mine own king: and here you sty me
In this hard rock, whiles you do keep from me
The rest o' the island.

PROSPERO: Thou most lying slave,
Whom stripes may move, not kindness! I have used thee,
Filth as thou art, with human care, and lodged thee
In mine own cell, till thou didst seek to violate
The honour of my child.

CALIBAN: O ho, O ho! would't had been done!
Thou didst prevent me; I had peopled else 
This isle with Calibans.

MIRANDA: Abhorred slave,
Which any print of goodness wilt not take,
Being capable of all ill! I pitied thee,
Took pains to make thee speak, taught thee each hour
One thing or other: when thou didst not, savage,
Know thine own meaning, but wouldst gabble like
A thing most brutish, I endow'd thy purposes
With words that made them known. But thy vile race,
Though thou didst learn, had that in't which good natures
Could not abide to be with; therefore wast thou 
Deservedly confined into this rock,
Who hadst deserved more than a prison.

CALIBAN: You taught me language; and my profit on't
Is, I know how to curse. The red plague rid you
For learning me your language!

PROSPERO: Hag-seed, hence!
Fetch us in fuel; and be quick, thou'rt best,
To answer other business. Shrug'st thou, malice?
If thou neglect'st or dost unwillingly
What I command, I'll rack thee with old cramps,
Fill all thy bones with aches, make thee roar 
That beasts shall tremble at thy din.

CALIBAN: No, pray thee!


PROSPERO: So, slave; hence!

[Exit CALIBAN.]

Part Four: Ferdinand (Study Guide)

{Re-enter ARIEL, invisible, playing and singing;
FERDINAND following.}

ARIEL'S song.

Come unto these yellow sands,
And then take hands:
Courtsied when you have and kiss'd
The wild waves whist,
Foot it featly here and there;
And, sweet sprites, the burthen bear. 
Hark, hark!
The watch-dogs bark!

{The noise of dogs barking and roosters crowing 
is heard in the distance.}

Hark, hark! I hear
The strain of strutting chanticleer
Cry, Cock-a-diddle-dow.

FERDINAND: Where should this music be? i' the air or the earth?
It sounds no more: and sure, it waits upon
Some god o' the island. Sitting on a bank,
Weeping again the king my father's wreck,
This music crept by me upon the waters, 
Allaying both their fury and my passion
With its sweet air: thence I have follow'd it,
Or it hath drawn me rather. But 'tis gone.
No, it begins again.

{ARIEL sings.}

Full fathom five thy father lies;
Of his bones are coral made;
Those are pearls that were his eyes:
Nothing of him that doth fade
But doth suffer a sea-change
Into something rich and strange. 
Sea-nymphs hourly ring his knell

{The sound of ships' bells in the distance.}

Hark! now I hear them,--Ding-dong, bell.

FERDINAND: The ditty does remember my drown'd father.
This is no mortal business, nor no sound
That the earth owes. I hear it now above me.

PROSPERO: The fringed curtains of thine eye advance
And say what thou seest yond.

MIRANDA: What is't? a spirit?
Lord, how it looks about! Believe me, sir,
It carries a brave form. But 'tis a spirit. 

PROSPERO: No, wench; it eats and sleeps and hath such senses
As we have, such. This gallant which thou seest
Was in the wreck; he hath lost his fellows
And strays about to find 'em.

MIRANDA: I might call him
A thing divine, for nothing natural
I ever saw so noble.

PROSPERO: [Aside] It goes on, I see,
As my soul prompts it. Spirit, fine spirit! 
I'll free thee 
Within two days for this.

FERDINAND: Most sure, the goddess
On whom these airs attend! Vouchsafe my prayer
May know if you live upon this island;
And that you will some good instruction give
How I may bear me here: my prime request,
Which I do last pronounce, is, O you wonder!
If you be maid or no?

MIRANDA: No wonder, sir;
But certainly a maid.

FERDINAND: My language! heavens!
I am the best of them that speak this speech,
Were I but where 'tis spoken.

PROSPERO: How? the best? 
What wert thou, if the King of Naples heard thee?

FERDINAND: A single thing, as I am now, that wonders
To hear thee speak of Naples. He does hear me;
And that he does I weep: myself am Naples,
Who with mine eyes, never since at ebb, beheld
The king my father wrack'd.

MIRANDA: Alack, for mercy!

FERDINAND: Yes, faith, and all his lords; the Duke of Milan
And his brave son being twain.

PROSPERO: [Aside] The Duke of Milan
And his more braver daughter could control thee,
If now 'twere fit to do't. At the first sight 
They have changed eyes. Delicate Ariel,
I'll set thee free for this.

[To FERDINAND.]

A word, good sir;
I fear you have done yourself some wrong: a word.

MIRANDA: Why speaks my father so ungently? This
Is the third man that e'er I saw, the first
That e'er I sigh'd for: pity move my father
To be inclined my way!

FERDINAND: O, if a virgin,
And your affection not gone forth, I'll make you
The queen of Naples.

PROSPERO: Soft, sir! one word more.

[Aside.]

They are both in either's powers; but this swift business
I must uneasy make, lest too light winning
Make the prize light.

[To FERDINAND.]

One word more; I charge thee
That thou attend me: thou dost here usurp
The name thou owest not; and hast put thyself
Upon this island as a spy, to win it
From me, the lord on't.

FERDINAND: No, as I am a man.

MIRANDA: There's nothing ill can dwell in such a temple:
If the ill spirit have so fair a house,
Good things will strive to dwell with't.

PROSPERO: Follow me.
Speak not you for him; he's a traitor. Come; 
I'll manacle thy neck and feet together:
Sea-water shalt thou drink; thy food shall be
The fresh-brook muscles, wither'd roots and husks
Wherein the acorn cradled. Follow.

FERDINAND: No;
I will resist such entertainment till
Mine enemy has more power.

[Draws his sword, and is charmed from moving.]

MIRANDA: O dear father,
Make not too rash a trial of him, for
He's gentle and not fearful.

PROSPERO: What? I say,
My foot my tutor? Put thy sword up, traitor;
Who makest a show but darest not strike, thy conscience 
Is so possess'd with guilt: come from thy ward,
For I can here disarm thee with this stick
And make thy weapon drop.

MIRANDA: Beseech you, father.

PROSPERO: Hence! hang not on my garments.

MIRANDA: Sir, have pity!

PROSPERO: Silence! one word more
Shall make me chide thee, if not hate thee. What!
An advocate for an imposter! hush!
Thou think'st there is no more such shapes as he,
Having seen but him and Caliban: foolish wench!
To the most of men this is a Caliban 
And they to him are angels.

MIRANDA: My affections
Are then most humble; I have no ambition
To see a goodlier man.

PROSPERO: Come on; obey:
Thy nerves are in their infancy again
And have no vigour in them.

FERDINAND: So they are;
My spirits, as in a dream, are all bound up.
My father's loss, the weakness which I feel,
The wreck of all my friends, nor this man's threats,
To whom I am subdued, are but light to me,
Might I but through my prison once a day 
Behold this maid: all corners else o' the earth
Let liberty make use of; space enough
Have I in such a prison.

PROSPERO: [Aside] It works.

[To FERDINAND.]

Come on.
Thou hast done well, fine Ariel!

[To FERDINAND.]

Follow me.

[To ARIEL.]

Hark what thou else shalt do me.

MIRANDA: Be of comfort;
My father's of a better nature, sir,
Than he appears by speech: this is unwonted
Which now came from him.

PROSPERO: Thou shalt be free
As mountain winds: but then exactly do
All points of my command.

ARIEL: To the syllable. 

PROSPERO: Come, follow. Speak not for him.

[Exeunt.]




ACT II Scene I: What's Past is Prologue (Study Guide)

On the beach, beneath a palm tree.
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
{ALONSO, SEBASTIAN, ANTONIO, GONZALO,
ADRIAN, FRANCISCO, and others.}

GONZALO: Beseech you, sir, be merry; you have cause,
So have we all, of joy; for our escape
Is much beyond our loss. Our hint of woe
Is common; every day some sailor's wife,
The masters of some merchant and the merchant
Have just our theme of woe; but for the miracle,
I mean our preservation, few in millions
Can speak like us: then wisely, good sir, weigh
Our sorrow with our comfort.

ALONSO: Prithee, peace.

SEBASTIAN: He receives comfort like cold porridge. 

ADRIAN: Though this island seem to be desert,--
Uninhabitable and almost inaccessible,--

SEBASTIAN: Yet,--

ADRIAN: Yet,-- It must needs be of subtle, tender and delicate 
temperance.

ANTONIO: Temperance was a delicate wench.

GONZALO: The air breathes upon us here most sweetly.

SEBASTIAN: Aye, as it 'twere perfumed by a fen.

GONZALO: Here is everything advantageous to life.

ANTONIO: True; save means to live.

SEBASTIAN: Of that there's none, or little.

GONZALO: How lush and lusty the grass looks! how green! 
But the rarity of it is,--which is indeed almost beyond credit is that our garments,
being, as they were, drenched in the sea, hold notwithstanding their freshness and
glosses, being rather new-dyed than stained with salt water.
Methinks our garments are now as fresh as when we
put them on first in Afric, at the marriage of
the king's fair daughter Claribel to the King of Tunis.

ALONSO: You cram these words into mine ears against
The stomach of my sense. Would I had never
Married my daughter there! for, coming thence,
My son is lost and, in my rate, she too,
Who is so far from Italy removed
I ne'er again shall see her. O thou mine heir
Of Naples and of Milan, what strange fish
Hath made his meal on thee?

FRANCISCO: Sir, he may live:
I saw him beat the surges under him,
And ride upon their backs; he trod the water,
Whose enmity he flung aside, and breasted
The surge most swolln that met him; his bold head
'Bove the contentious waves he kept, and oar'd
Himself with his good arms in lusty stroke
To the shore, that o'er his wave-worn basis bow'd,
As stooping to relieve him: I not doubt
He came alive to land.

ALONSO: No, no, he's gone.

SEBASTIAN: Sir, you may thank yourself for this great loss,
That would not bless our Europe with your daughter, 
But rather lose her to an African;
Where she at least is banish'd from your eye,
Who hath cause to wet the grief on't.

ALONSO: Prithee, peace.

SEBASTIAN: We have lost your son,
I fear, for ever: Milan and Naples have
More widows in them of this business' making
Than we bring men to comfort them: 
The fault's your own.

ALONSO: So is the dear'st o' the loss.

GONZALO: My lord Sebastian,
The truth you speak doth lack some gentleness
And time to speak it in.

SEBASTIAN: Very well..

GONZALO: It is foul weather in us all, good sir,
When you are cloudy.

SEBASTIAN: Foul weather?

ANTONIO: Very foul.

GONZALO: Had I plantation of this isle, my lord,--

ANTONIO: He'ld sow't with nettle-seed.

SEBASTIAN: Or docks, or mallows. 

GONZALO: And were the king on't, what would I do?

SEBASTIAN: 'Scape being drunk for want of wine.

GONZALO: I' the commonwealth I would by contraries
Execute all things; for no kind of traffic
Would I admit; no name of magistrate;
Letters should not be known; riches, poverty,
And use of service, none; contract, succession,
Bourn, bound of land, tilth, vineyard, none;
No use of metal, corn, or wine, or oil;
No occupation; all men idle, all;
And women too, but innocent and pure; 
No sovereignty;--

SEBASTIAN: Yet he would be king on't.

GONZALO: All things in common nature should produce
Without sweat or endeavour: treason, felony,
Sword, pike, knife, gun, or need of any engine,
Would I not have; but nature should bring forth,
Of its own kind, all foison, all abundance,
To feed my innocent people.

SEBASTIAN: No marrying 'mong his subjects?

ANTONIO: None, man; all idle: whores and knaves. 

GONZALO: I would with such perfection govern, sir,
To excel the golden age.

SEBASTIAN: God save his majesty!

ANTONIO: Long live Gonzalo!

GONZALO: And,--do you mark me, sir?

ALONSO: Prithee, no more: thou dost talk nothing to me.

GONZALO: I do well believe your highness; and
did it to minister occasion to these gentlemen,
who are of such sensible and nimble lungs that
they always use to laugh at nothing.

ANTONIO: 'Twas you we laughed at.

GONZALO: Who in this kind of merry fooling am nothing 
to you: so you may continue and laugh at nothing still.

ANTONIO: What a blow was there given!

SEBASTIAN: An it had not fallen flat-long.

GONZALO: You are gentlemen of brave metal; you would lift
the moon out of her sphere, if she would continue
in it five weeks without changing.

{Enter ARIEL, invisible, playing solemn music.}

SEBASTIAN: We would so, and then go a bat-fowling.

ANTONIO: Nay, good my lord, be not angry.

GONZALO: No, I warrant you; I will not adventure 
my discretion so weakly. Will you laugh
me asleep, for I am very heavy?

ANTONIO: Go sleep, and hear us.

[All sleep except ALONSO, SEBASTIAN, and ANTONIO.]

ALONSO: What, all so soon asleep! I wish mine eyes
Would, with themselves, shut up my thoughts: I find
They are inclined to do so.

SEBASTIAN: Please you, sir,
Do not omit the heavy offer of it:
It seldom visits sorrow; when it doth,
It is a comforter.

ANTONIO: We two, my lord,
Will guard your person while you take your rest, 
And watch your safety.

ALONSO: Thank you. Wondrous heavy.

[ALONSO sleeps. Exit ARIEL.]

SEBASTIAN: What a strange drowsiness possesses them!

ANTONIO: It is the quality o' the climate.

SEBASTIAN: Why
Doth it not then our eyelids sink? I find not
Myself disposed to sleep.

ANTONIO: Nor I; my spirits are nimble.
They fell together all, as by consent;
They dropp'd, as by a thunder-stroke. What might,
Worthy Sebastian? O, what might?--No more:--
And yet me thinks I see it in thy face,
What thou shouldst be: the occasion speaks thee, and 
My strong imagination sees a crown
Dropping upon thy head.

SEBASTIAN: What, art thou waking?

ANTONIO: Do you not hear me speak?

SEBASTIAN: I do!
What is it thou didst say?
This is a strange repose, to be asleep
With eyes wide open; standing, speaking, moving,
And yet so fast asleep.

ANTONIO: Noble Sebastian,
Thou let'st thy fortune sleep--die, rather; wink'st
Whiles thou art waking.

SEBASTIAN: Well, I am standing water.

ANTONIO: I'll teach you how to flow.
Will you grant with me
That Ferdinand is drown'd?

SEBASTIAN: He's gone.

ANTONIO: Then, tell me,
Who's the next heir of Naples?

SEBASTIAN: Claribel.

ANTONIO: She that is queen of Tunis; she that dwells
Ten leagues beyond man's life; she that from Naples 
Can have no note, unless the sun were post--
The man i' the moon's too slow--till new-born chins
Be rough and razorable; she that--from whom?
We all were sea-swallow'd, though some cast again,
And by that destiny to perform an act
Whereof what's past is prologue, what to come
In yours and my discharge.

SEBASTIAN: What stuff is this! how say you?

ANTONIO: Say, this were death
That now hath seized them; why, they were no worse
Than now they are. There be that can rule Naples
As well as he that sleeps; lords that can prate
As amply and unnecessarily
As this Gonzalo; I myself could make
A chough of as deep chat. O, that you bore
The mind that I do! what a sleep were this
For your advancement! Do you understand me? 

SEBASTIAN: Methinks I do.

ANTONIO: And how does your content
Tender your own good fortune?

SEBASTIAN: I remember
You did supplant your brother Prospero.

ANTONIO: True:
And look how well my garments sit upon me;
Much feater than before.

SEBASTIAN: But, for your conscience?

ANTONIO: Ay, sir; where lies that? if 'twere a kibe,
'Twould put me to my slipper: Here lies your brother,
No better than the earth he lies upon,
If he were that which now he's like, that's dead;
Whom I, with this obedient steel, three inches of it,
Can lay to bed for ever; whiles you, doing thus,
To this ancient morsel, this Sir Prudence, who
Should not upbraid our course. For all the rest,
They'll take suggestion as a cat laps milk!

SEBASTIAN: As thou got'st Milan,
I'll come by Naples. Draw thy sword: one stroke
And I the king shall love thee.

ANTONIO: Draw together;
And when I rear my hand, do you the like,
To fall it on Gonzalo.

{Re-enter ARIEL, invisible.}

ARIEL: [sings]

While you here do snoring lie,
Open-eyed conspiracy
His time doth take.
If of life you keep a care,
Shake off slumber, and beware:
Awake, awake!

ANTONIO: Then let us both be sudden.

GONZALO: Now, good angels
Preserve the king.

[They wake.]

ALONSO: Why, how now? ho, awake! Why are you drawn? 
Wherefore this ghastly looking?

GONZALO: What's the matter?

SEBASTIAN: Even now, we heard a hollow burst of bellowing
Like bulls, or rather lions: did't not wake you?

ALONSO: I heard nothing.

ANTONIO: O, sure it was the roar of a whole herd of lions.

ALONSO: Heard you this, Gonzalo?

GONZALO: Upon mine honour, sir, I heard a humming,
And that a strange one too, there was a noise,
That's verily. 'Tis best we stand upon our guard,
Or that we quit this place; let's draw our weapons.

ALONSO: Lead off this ground; and let's make further search
For my poor son.

GONZALO: Heavens keep him from these beasts!
For he is, sure, i' the island.

ALONSO: Lead away.

ARIEL: Prospero my lord shall know what I have done:
So, king, go safely on to seek thy son. 



ACT II Scene ii: O brave monster! (Study Guide)

Another beach on the island.
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

{Enter CALIBAN with a burden of driftwood. 
A noise of thunder heard.}

CALIBAN: All the infections that the sun sucks up
From bogs, fens, flats, on Prosper fall and make him
By inch-meal a disease! His spirits hear me
And yet I needs must curse. But they'll nor pinch,
Fright me with urchin--shows, pitch me i' the mire,
Nor lead me, like a firebrand, in the dark
Out of my way, unless he bid 'em; but
For every trifle are they set upon me;
Sometime like apes that mow and chatter at me
And after bite me, then like hedgehogs which 
Lie tumbling in my barefoot way and mount
Their pricks at my footfall; sometime am I
All wound with adders who with cloven tongues
Do hiss me into madness.

{Enter TRINCULO.}

Lo, now, lo!

Here comes a spirit of his, and to torment me
For bringing wood in slowly. I'll fall flat;
Perchance he will not mind me.

TRINCULO: Here's neither bush nor shrub, to bear off
any weather at all, and another storm brewing; I hear it sing 
i' the wind. If it should thunder as it did before, I know not
where to hide my head! 

What have we here? a man or a fish? dead or alive? 
A fish: he smells like a fish; a very ancient and fish-
like smell; A strange fish! Legged like a man and his fins like arms!
Warm o' my troth! I do now let loose my opinion; 
this is no fish, but an islander, that hath lately suffered 
by a thunderbolt. 

[Thunder.]

Alas, the storm is come again! my best way is to creep under his gaberdine;
there is no other shelter hereabouts: misery acquaints a man with strange bed-fellows.

{Enter STEPHANO, singing: a bottle in his hand.}

STEPHANO: I shall no more to sea, to sea,
Here shall I die ashore--

This is a very scurvy tune to sing at a man's funeral: 
well, here's my comfort. [Drinks.]

[Sings.]

The master, the swabber, the boatswain and I, 
The gunner and his mate
Loved Mall, Meg and Marian and Margery,
But none of us cared for Kate;
For she had a tongue with a tang,
Would cry to a sailor, Go hang!
She loved not the savour of tar nor of pitch,
Yet a tailor might scratch her where'er she did itch:
Then to sea, boys, and let her go hang!

This is a scurvy tune too: but here's my comfort.

[Drinks.]

CALIBAN: Do not torment me: Oh! 

STEPHANO: What's the matter? Have we devils here? Do you put
tricks upon's with savages and men of Ind, ha? 
I have not scaped drowning to be afeard now of your
four legs.

CALIBAN: The spirit torments me; Oh!

STEPHANO: This is some monster of the isle with four legs, 
who hath got, as I take it, an ague. Where the devil 
should he learn our language? If I can recover him
and keep him tame and get to Naples with him, 
he's a present for any emperor that ever trod on neat's leather.

CALIBAN: Do not torment me, prithee; I'll bring my 
wood home faster.

STEPHANO: He's in his fit now and does not talk after the wisest. 
He shall taste of my bottle: if he have never drunk wine afore 
will go near to remove his fit. Come on your ways; open your mouth;
here is that which will give language to you, cat: open your mouth;
this will shake your shaking, I can tell you,and that soundly; open your chaps again.

TRINCULO: I should know that voice: it should be--but he is drowned;
and these are devils: O defend me!

STEPHANO: Four legs and two voices: a most delicate monster!
Come. Amen! I will pour some in thy other mouth.

TRINCULO: Stephano!

STEPHANO: Mercy, mercy! This is a devil, and no monster!

TRINCULO: Stephano! If thou beest Stephano, touch me and
speak to me: for I am Trinculo--be not afeard--thy good friend Trinculo.

STEPHANO: If thou beest Trinculo, come forth: Thou art very Trinculo indeed!
How camest thou to be the siege of this moon-calf? can he vent Trinculos?

TRINCULO: And art thou living, Stephano? O Stephano, 
two Neapolitans 'scaped!

STEPHANO: Prithee, do not turn me about; my stomach 
is not constant.

CALIBAN: That's a brave god and bears celestial liquor.
I will kneel to him.

STEPHANO: How didst thou 'scape? How camest thou hither?
swear by this bottle how thou camest hither. 
I escaped upon a butt of sack which the sailors
heaved o'erboard, by this bottle!

TRINCULO: Swum ashore. man, like a duck: I can swim 
like a duck, I'll be sworn.

STEPHANO: Here, kiss the book. Though thou canst swim 
like a duck, thou art made like a goose.

TRINCULO: O Stephano. hast any more of this?

STEPHANO: The whole butt, man: my cellar is in a rock by the
sea-side where my wine is hid. How now, moon-calf!
how does thine ague?

CALIBAN: Hast thou not dropp'd from heaven? 

STEPHANO: Out o' the moon, I do assure thee!

CALIBAN: I will kiss thy foot: I prithee, be my god.

STEPHANO: Come on then; down, and swear.

TRINCULO: A most scurvy monster!

STEPHANO: Come, kiss. 

TRINCULO: An abominable monster!

CALIBAN: I'll show thee every fertile inch o' th' isle; 
I'll pluck thee berries; I'll fish for thee and get thee wood enough.
A plague upon the tyrant that I serve!
I'll bear him no more sticks, but follow thee,
Thou wondrous man.

TRINCULO: A most ridiculous monster, to make a wonder of a
Poor drunkard!

CALIBAN: Wilt thou go with me?

STEPHANO: I prithee now, lead the way without any more talking. 
Trinculo, the king and all our company else being drowned, 
we will inherit here: here, bear my bottle: fellow Trinculo,

CALIBAN: [Sings drunkenly.]
Farewell master; farewell, farewell!

TRINCULO: A howling monster: a drunken monster!

CALIBAN: No more dams I'll make for fish
Nor fetch in firing
At requiring;
Nor scrape trencher, nor wash dish
'Ban, 'Ban, Cacaliban
Has a new master: get a new man.

Freedom, hey-day! hey-day, freedom! freedom, 
hey-day, freedom!

STEPHANO: O brave monster! Lead the way.

[Exeunt.]



ACT III Scene i: Admired Miranda! (Study Guide)

Before PROSPERO'S Cell.
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

{Enter FERDINAND, bearing a log.}

FERDINAND: This my mean task
Would be as heavy to me as odious, but
The mistress which I serve quickens what's dead
And makes my labours pleasures: O, she is
Ten times more gentle than her father's crabbed,
And he's composed of harshness. I must remove
Some thousands of these logs and pile them up, 
still my sweet mistress weeps when she sees me work!

{Enter MIRANDA; and PROSPERO at a distance, unseen.}

MIRANDA: Alas, now, pray you,
Work not so hard: I would the lightning had
Burnt up those logs that you are enjoin'd to pile!
My father is hard at study; pray now, 
rest yourself; he's safe for these three hours.

FERDINAND: O most dear mistress,
The sun will set before I shall discharge
What I must strive to do.

MIRANDA: If you'll sit down,
I'll bear your logs the while: pray, give me that;
I'll carry it to the pile.

FERDINAND: No, precious creature;
I had rather crack my sinews, break my back,
Than you should such dishonour undergo,
While I sit lazy by.

MIRANDA: It would become me
As well as it does you: and I should do it
With much more ease; for my good will is to it, 
And yours it is against.

PROSPERO: Poor worm, thou art infected!
This visitation shows it.

MIRANDA: You look wearily.

FERDINAND: No, noble mistress;'tis fresh morning with me
When you are by at night. I do beseech you--
Chiefly that I might set it in my prayers--
What is your name?

MIRANDA: Miranda.--O my father,
I have broke your hest to say so!

FERDINAND: Admired Miranda!
Indeed the top of admiration! worth
What's dearest to the world! You, O you,
So perfect and so peerless, are created
Of every creature's best!

MIRANDA: I do not know
One of my sex; no woman's face remember,
Save, from my glass, mine own; nor have I seen 
More that I may call men than you, good friend,
And my dear father: how features are abroad,
I am skilless of; but, by my modesty,
The jewel in my dower, I would not wish
Any companion in the world but you,
Nor can imagination form a shape,
Besides yourself, to like of. But I prattle
Something too wildly and my father's precepts
I therein do forget.

FERDINAND: I am in my condition
A prince, Miranda; I do think, a king; 
I would, not so!--and would no more endure
This wooden slavery than to suffer
The flesh-fly blow my mouth. Hear my soul speak:
The very instant that I saw you, did
My heart fly to your service; there resides,
To make me slave to it; and for your sake
Am I this patient log--man.

MIRANDA: Do you love me?

FERDINAND: O heaven, O earth, bear witness to this sound
And crown what I profess with kind event
If I speak true! I do love, prize, honour you.

MIRANDA: I am a fool
To weep at what I am glad of.

PROSPERO: Fair encounter
Of two most rare affections! Heavens rain grace
On that which breeds between 'em!

FERDINAND: Wherefore weep you?

MIRANDA: At mine unworthiness that dare not offer
What I desire to give! Hence, bashful cunning!
And prompt me, plain and holy innocence!
I am your wife, it you will marry me;
If not, I'll die your maid

FERDINAND: My mistress, dearest;
And I thus humble ever.

MIRANDA: My husband, then?

FERDINAND: Ay, with a heart as willing
As bondage e'er of freedom: here's my hand.

MIRANDA: And mine, with my heart in't; and now farewell 
Till half an hour hence.

FERDINAND: A thousand thousand!

[Exeunt FERDINAND and MIRANDA]

PROSPERO: So glad of this as they I cannot be,
but my rejoicing at nothing can be more. 
I'll to my book, for yet ere supper-time 
must I perform much business appertaining.

[Exit.]



ACT III scene ii: When Prospero is destroyed. (Study Guide)

Caliban's shack.
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

{Enter CALIBAN, STEPHANO, and TRINCULO.}

STEPHANO: Tell not me; when the butt is out, we will drink water; 
not a drop before: therefore bear up, and board 'em. 
Servant-monster, drink to me.

TRINCULO: Servant-monster! the folly of this island! 
They say there's but five upon this isle: we are three
of them; if th' other two be brained like us, the state totters.

STEPHANO: Drink, servant-monster, when I bid thee: 
My man-monster hath drown'd his tongue in sack:
for my part, the sea cannot drown me; by this light,
thou shalt be my lieutenant, monster! Moon-calf, speak once in thy life,
if thou beest a good moon-calf.

CALIBAN: How does thy honour? Let me lick thy shoe.
I'll not serve him; he's not valiant.

TRINCULO: Thou liest, most ignorant monster: Why, thou deboshed fish thou,
wilt thou tell a monstrous lie, being but half a fish and half a monster?

CALIBAN: Lo, how he mocks me! wilt thou let him, my lord? 
Bite him to death, I prithee.

STEPHANO: Trinculo, keep a good tongue in your head: if you
prove a mutineer,--the next tree! The poor monster's
my subject and he shall not suffer indignity.

CALIBAN: I thank my noble lord. Wilt thou be pleased to
hearken once again to the suit I made to thee?

STEPHANO: Marry, will I: kneel and repeat it!

{Enter ARIEL, invisible.}

CALIBAN: I am subject to a tyrant, a sorcerer, that by his cunning
hath cheated me of the island.

ARIEL (imitating Trinculo's voice): Thou liest.

CALIBAN: Thou liest, thou jesting monkey, thou!

STEPHANO: Trinculo, if you trouble him any more in's tale, 
by this hand, I will supplant some of your teeth.

TRINCULO: Why, I said nothing.

STEPHANO: Mum, then, and no more. Proceed. 

CALIBAN: I say, by sorcery he got this isle;
From me he got it. If thy greatness will revenge it on him,
thou shalt be lord of it and I'll serve thee.

STEPHANO: How now shall this be compassed?
Canst thou bring me to the party?

CALIBAN: Yea, yea, my lord: I'll yield him thee asleep,
Where thou mayst knock a nail into his head.

ARIEL: Thou liest; thou canst not. 

CALIBAN: What a pied ninny's this! Thou scurvy patch!

STEPHANO: Trinculo, run into no further danger:
interrupt the monster one word further, and,
by this hand, I'll make a stock-fish of thee.

TRINCULO: Why, what did I? I did nothing.

STEPHANO: Didst thou not say he lied?

ARIEL: Thou liest.

STEPHANO: Do I so? take thou that.

[Beats TRINCULO]

As you like this, give me the lie another time.

TRINCULO: I did not give the lie. Out o' your wits and hearing too?
A pox o' your bottle!

CALIBAN: Ha, ha, ha! 

STEPHANO: Now, forward with your tale. 
Prithee, stand farther off.

CALIBAN: Beat him enough: after a little time I'll beat him too.

STEPHANO: Stand farther. Come, proceed.

CALIBAN: Why, as I told thee, 'tis a custom with him,
I' th' afternoon to sleep: there thou mayst brain him,
Having first seized his books, or with a log
Batter his skull, or paunch him with a stake,
Or cut his wezand with thy knife. Remember
First to possess his books; for without them 
He's but a sot, as I am; burn all his books!
But that most deeply to consider is
The beauty of his daughter!

STEPHANO: Is it so brave a lass?

CALIBAN: Ay, lord; she will bring thee forth brave brood.

STEPHANO: Monster, I will kill this man: his daughter and I
will be king and queen--save our graces!--and
Trinculo and thyself shall be viceroys. 
Dost thou like the plot, Trinculo?

TRINCULO: Excellent.

STEPHANO: Give me thy hand: I am sorry I beat thee; 
but, while thou livest, keep a good tongue in thy head. 

CALIBAN: Within this half hour will he be asleep:
Wilt thou destroy him then?

STEPHANO: Ay, on mine honour.

ARIEL: This will I tell my master.

STEPHANO: Come on, Trinculo, let us sing. Dance, mooncalf!

[Sings.]

Flout 'em and scout 'em
And scout 'em and flout 'em 
Thought is free.

[Ariel plays the tune on a tabour and pipe.]

STEPHANO: What is this same?

TRINCULO: This is the tune of our catch, played by the picture
of Nobody.

STEPHANO: If thou beest a man, show thyself in thy likeness!

TRINCULO: O, forgive me my sins!

STEPHANO: Mercy upon us! 

CALIBAN: Art thou afeard?

STEPHANO: No, monster, not I.

CALIBAN: Be not afeard; the isle is full of noises,
Sounds and sweet airs, that give delight and hurt not.
Sometimes a thousand twangling instruments
Will hum about mine ears, and sometime voices
That, if I then had waked after long sleep,
Will make me sleep again: and then, in dreaming,
The clouds methought would open and show riches
Ready to drop upon me that, when I waked, 
I cried to dream again.

STEPHANO: This will prove a brave kingdom to me....

CALIBAN: When Prospero is destroyed.

TRINCULO: The sound is going away; let's follow it.

STEPHANO: Lead, monster; we'll follow.


ACT III scene iii: The Deep and Dreadful Name of Prosper (Study Guide)

Another part of the island.
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

{Enter ALONSO, SEBASTIAN, ANTONIO, GONZALO,
ADRIAN, FRANCISCO, and others.}

GONZALO: By'r lakin, I can go no further, sir;
My old bones ache: here's a maze trod indeed
Through forth-rights and meanders! By your patience,
I needs must rest me.

ALONSO: Old lord, I cannot blame thee,
Sit down, and rest.
Even here I will put off my hope. He' s drown'd
Whom thus we stray to find, and the sea mocks
Our frustrate search on land..

SEBASTIAN: [Aside to ANTONIO.] 
The next advantage will we take throughly.

ANTONIO: [Aside to SEBASTIAN] Let it be to-night;.

[Solemn and strange music.]

ALONSO: What harmony is this? My good friends, hark!

GONZALO: Marvellous sweet music!

{Enter PROSPERO above, invisible. Enter several
strange Shapes, bringing in a banquet; they dance about it 
with gentle actions of salutation, inviting the King, and company to eat,
then they depart}

ALONSO: Give us kind keepers, heavens! What were these?

SEBASTIAN: A living drollery. Now I will believe
That there are unicorns.

GONZALO: If in Naples 
I should report this now, would they believe me?
If I should say, I saw such islanders--
For, certes, these are people of the island--
Who, though they are of monstrous shape, yet, note,
Their manners are most gentle-kind!

ALONSO: I cannot too much muse
Such shapes, such gesture and such sound, expressing, 
Although they want the use of tongue, a kind
Of excellent dumb discourse.

SEBASTIAN: Will't please you taste of what is here?

ALONSO: Not I.

GONZALO: Faith, sir, you need not fear. When we were boys,
Who would believe that there were mountaineers
Dew-lapp'd like bulls, whose throats had hanging at 'em 
Wallets of flesh? or that there were such men
Whose heads stood in their breasts? which now we find
Each putter-out of five for one will bring us
Good warrant of.

ALONSO: I will stand to and feed,
Although my last: no matter, since I feel
The best is past.

{Thunder and lightning. Enter ARIEL, like a harpy; 
claps his wings upon the table; and the banquet vanishes.}

ARIEL: You are three men of sin, whom Destiny,
That hath to instrument this lower world
And what is in't, the never-surfeited sea 
Hath caused to belch up you; and on this island
Where man doth not inhabit; you 'mongst men
Being most unfit to live. I have made you mad!

[ALONSO, SEBASTIAN &c. draw their swords.]

You fools! I and my fellows
Are ministers of Fate: if you could hurt,
Your swords are now too massy for your strengths
And will not be uplifted. But remember--
For that's my business to you--that you three
From Milan did supplant good Prospero;
Exposed unto the sea, which hath requit it,
Him and his innocent child: for which foul deed
The powers, delaying, not forgetting, have
Incensed the seas and shores, yea, all the creatures,
Against your peace. Thee of thy son, Alonso, 
They have bereft; and do pronounce by me:
Lingering perdition, worse than any death
Can be at once, shall step by step attend
You and all your ways.

{He vanishes in thunder.}

PROSPERO: My high charms work
And these mine enemies are all knit up
In their distractions; they now are in my power!

[Exit above.]

ALONSO: O, it is monstrous, monstrous:
Methought the billows spoke and told me of it;
The winds did sing it to me, and the thunder, 
That deep and dreadful organ-pipe, pronounced
The name of Prosper: it did bass my trespass.
Therefore my son i' the ooze is bedded, and
I'll seek him deeper than e'er plummet sounded
And with him there lie mudded.

[Exit]

SEBASTIAN: But one fiend at a time,
I'll fight their legions o'er.

ANTONIO: I'll be thy second.

[Exeunt SEBASTIAN, and ANTONIO.]

GONZALO: All three of them are desperate: their great guilt,
Like poison given to work a great time after,
Now 'gins to bite the spirits. I do beseech you
That are of suppler joints, follow them swiftly 
And hinder them from what this ecstasy
May now provoke them to.

ADRIAN: Follow, I pray you.

[Exeunt.]




ACT IV scene i: The Masque: A Most Majestic Vision (Study Guide)

Before PROSPERO'S cell.
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

{Enter PROSPERO, FERDINAND, and MIRANDA.}

PROSPERO: If I have too austerely punish'd you,
Your compensation makes amends, for I
Have given you here a third of mine own life,
Or that for which I live; who once again
I tender to thy hand: all thy vexations
Were but my trials of thy love and thou
Hast strangely stood the test here, afore Heaven,
I ratify this my rich gift. O Ferdinand,
Do not smile at me that I boast her off,
For thou shalt find she will outstrip all praise 
And make it halt behind her.

FERDINAND: I do believe it
Against an oracle.

PROSPERO: Then, as my gift and thine own acquisition
Worthily purchased take my daughter: but
If thou dost break her virgin-knot before
All sanctimonious ceremonies may
With full and holy rite be minister'd,
No sweet aspersion shall the heavens let fall
To make this contract grow: but barren hate,
Sour-eyed disdain and discord shall bestrew 
The union of your bed with weeds so loathly
That you shall hate it both: therefore take heed,
As Hymen's lamps shall light you.

FERDINAND: As I hope
For quiet days, fair issue and long life,
With such love as 'tis now, the murkiest den,
The most opportune place, the strong'st suggestion.
Our worser genius can, shall never melt
Mine honour into lust, to take away
The edge of that day's celebration,

PROSPERO: Fairly spoke.
Sit then and talk with her; she is thine own.
What, Ariel! my industrious servant, Ariel!

[Enter ARIEL.]

ARIEL: What would my potent master?

PROSPERO: I must
Bestow upon the eyes of this young couple 
Some vanity of mine art.

ARIEL: Presently?

PROSPERO: Ay, with a twink.

[Ariel exits.]

PROSPERO: Look thou be true; do not give dalliance
Too much the rein: the strongest oaths are straw
To the fire i' the blood: be more abstemious,
Or else, good night your vow!

FERDINAND: I warrant you sir;
The white cold virgin snow upon my heart
Abates the ardour of my liver.

PROSPERO: Well.
Now come, my Ariel!
No tongue! all eyes! be silent.

[Soft music.]

{Enter IRIS.}

IRIS: Ceres, most bounteous lady;--the queen o' the sky, 
Whose watery arch and messenger am I,
Bids thee arise, and with her sovereign grace,
Here on this grass-plot, in this very place,
To come and sport: her peacocks fly amain:
Approach, rich Ceres, her to entertain.

{Enter CERES.}

CERES: Hail, many-colour'd messenger,why hath thy queen
Summon'd me hither, to this short-grass'd green?

IRIS: A contract of true love to celebrate;
And some donation freely to estate
On the blest lovers.

CERES: High'st queen of state,
Great Juno, comes; I know her by her gait.

{Enter JUNO.}

JUNO: How does my bounteous sister? Go with me
To bless this twain, that they may prosperous be
And honour'd in their issue.

[They sing:]

JUNO: Honour, riches, marriage-blessing,
Long continuance, and increasing,
Hourly joys be still upon you!
Juno sings her blessings upon you.

CERES: Earth's increase, foison plenty, 
Barns and garners never empty,
Vines and clustering bunches growing,
Plants with goodly burthen bowing;
Spring come to you at the farthest
In the very end of harvest!
Scarcity and want shall shun you;
Ceres' blessing so is on you.

FERDINAND: This is a most majestic vision, and
Harmoniously charmingly. May I be bold
To think these spirits?

PROSPERO: Spirits, which by mine art 
I have from their confines call'd to enact
My present fancies.

FERDINAND: Let me live here ever;
So rare a wonder'd father and a wife
Makes this place Paradise.

[Juno and Ceres whisper, and send Iris on employment.]

PROSPERO: Sweet, now, silence!
Juno and Ceres whisper seriously;
There's something else to do: hush, and be mute,
Or else our spell is marr'd.

IRIS: You nymphs, call'd Naiads, of the winding brooks,
With your sedged crowns and ever-harmless looks,
Leave your crisp channels and on this green land 
Answer your summons; Juno does command:
Come, temperate nymphs, and help to celebrate
A contract of true love; be not too late.

{Enter certain Nymphs.}

You sunburnt sicklemen, of August weary,
Come hither from the furrow and be merry:
Make holiday; your rye-straw hats put on
And these fresh nymphs encounter every one
In country footing.

{Enter certain Reapers, properly habited: they join 
with the Nymphs in a graceful dance; towards the end whereof 
PROSPERO starts suddenly, and speaks; after which, to a
strange, hollow, and confused noise, they heavily vanish.}

PROSPERO: [Aside] I had forgot that foul conspiracy
Of the beast Caliban and his confederates 
Against my life: the minute of their plot
Is almost come.

[To the Spirits.]

Well done! avoid; no more!

FERDINAND: This is strange: your father's in some passion
That works him strongly.

MIRANDA: Never till this day
Saw I him touch'd with anger so distemper'd.

PROSPERO: You do look, my son, in a moved sort,
As if you were dismay'd: be cheerful, sir.
Our revels now are ended. These our actors,
As I foretold you, were all spirits and
Are melted into air, into thin air: 
And, like the baseless fabric of this vision,
The cloud-capp'd towers, the gorgeous palaces,
The solemn temples, the great globe itself,
Ye all which it inherit, shall dissolve
And, like this insubstantial pageant faded,
Leave not a rack behind. We are such stuff
As dreams are made on, and our little life
Is rounded with a sleep. Sir, I am vex'd;
Bear with my weakness; my, brain is troubled:
Be not disturb'd with my infirmity: 
If you be pleased, retire into my cell
And there repose: a turn or two I'll walk,
To still my beating mind.

FERDINAND: 
} We wish your peace.
MIRANDA: 


[Exeunt.]

PROSPERO: Come with a thought. I thank thee, Ariel: come.

{Enter ARIEL.}

ARIEL: Thy thoughts I cleave to. What's thy pleasure?

PROSPERO: Spirit,
We must prepare to meet with Caliban.

ARIEL: Ay, my commander: when I presented Ceres,
I thought to have told thee of it, but I fear'd
Lest I might anger thee.

PROSPERO: Say again, where didst thou leave these varlets? 

ARIEL: I told you, sir, they were red-hot with drinking;
So full of valour that they smote the air
For breathing in their faces; beat the ground
For kissing of their feet; yet always bending
Towards their project. Then I beat my tabour;
At which, like unback'd colts, they prick'd their ears,
Advanced their eyelids, lifted up their noses
As they smelt music: so I charm'd their ears
That calf-like they my lowing follow'd through
Tooth'd briers, sharp furzes, pricking goss and thorns, 
Which entered their frail shins: at last I left them
I' the filthy-mantled pool beyond your cell,
There dancing up to the chins, that the foul lake
O'erstunk their feet.

PROSPERO: This was well done, my bird.
The trumpery in my house, go bring it hither,
For stale to catch these thieves.


ARIEL: I go, I go.

[Exit.]

PROSPERO: A devil, a born devil, on whose nature
Nurture can never stick; on whom my pains,
Humanely taken, all, all lost, quite lost; 
And as with age his body uglier grows,
So his mind cankers. I will plague them all,
Even to roaring.

{Re-enter ARIEL, loaden with glistering apparel, &c.}

Come, hang them on this line.

{PROSPEROü and ARIEL remain invisible. Enter
CALIBAN, STEPHANO, and TRINCULO, all wet.}

CALIBAN: Pray you, tread softly; we now are near his cell.

STEPHANO: Monster, your fairy, which you say is
a harmless fairy, has done little better than
played the Jack with us.

TRINCULO: Monster, I do smell all horse-piss! 

CALIBAN: Be patient, for the prize I'll bring thee to
Shall hoodwink this mischance: therefore speak softly.
All's hush'd as midnight yet.

TRINCULO: Ay, but to lose our bottles in the pool,--

STEPHANO: There is not only disgrace and dishonour in that,
monster, but an infinite loss..

CALIBAN: Prithee, my king, be quiet. Seest thou here,
This is the mouth o' the cell: no noise, and enter.
Do that good mischief which may make this island
Thine own for ever, and I, thy Caliban,
For aye thy foot-licker.

STEPHANO: Give me thy hand. I do begin to have 
bloody thoughts. 

TRINCULO: O king Stephano! O worthy Stephano! look
what a wardrobe here is for thee!

CALIBAN: Let it alone, thou fool; it is but trash.

TRINCULO: O king Stephano!

STEPHANO: Put off that gown, Trinculo; by this hand, 
I'll have that gown.

TRINCULO: Thy grace shall have it.

CALIBAN: Let it alone and do the murder first: if he awake,
From toe to crown he'll fill our skins with pinches,
Make us strange stuff. 

STEPHANO: Be you quiet, monster. O Trinculo, look.

[STEPAHNO holds up jewels.]

TRINCULO: O, wondrous! 

CALIBAN: We shall lose our time,
And all be turn'd to barnacles, or to apes

STEPHANO: Monster, lay-to your fingers: help to bear this 
away where my hogshead of wine is, or I'll turn you
out of my kingdom: go to, carry this.

TRINCULO: And this.

STEPHANO: Ay, and this.

{A noise of hunters' horns is heard. Enter several Spirits,
in shape of dogs and hounds, and hunt them about,
PROSPERO and ARIEL setting them on.}

PROSPERO: Hey, Mountain, hey!

ARIEL: Fury, there it goes, Fury! 

[CALIBAN, STEPHANO, and TRINCULO, are driven out.]

PROSPERO:Go, grind their joints
With dry convulsions, shorten up their sinews 
With aged cramps, and more pinch-spotted make them
Than pard or cat o' mountain.

ARIEL: Hark, they roar!

PROSPERO: Let them be hunted soundly. At this hour
Lie at my mercy all mine enemies:
Shortly shall all my labours end, and thou
Shalt have the air at freedom: for a little
Follow, and do me service.

[Exeunt.]





ACT V scene i: O brave new world! (Study Guide)

Before PROSPERO'S cell.
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

{Enter PROSPERO in his magic robes, and ARIEL.}

PROSPERO: Now does my project gather to a head:
My charms crack not; my spirits obey; and time
Goes upright with his carriage. How's the day?

ARIEL: On the sixth hour; at which time, my lord,
You said our work should cease.

PROSPERO: I did say so,
When first I raised the tempest. Say, my spirit,
How fares the king and's followers?

ARIEL: The king,
His brother and yours, abide all three distracted
And the remainder mourning over them,
Brimful of sorrow and dismay; but chiefly
Him that you term'd, sir, 'The good old lord Gonzalo;'
His tears run down his beard, like winter's drops
From eaves of reeds. Your charm so strongly works 'em
That if you now beheld them, your affections
Would become tender.

PROSPERO: Dost thou think so, spirit?

ARIEL: Mine would, sir, were I human.

PROSPERO: And mine shall. 
Hast thou, which art but air, a touch, a feeling
Of their afflictions, and shall not myself,
One of their kind, that relish all as sharply,
Passion as they, be kindlier moved than thou art?
The rarer action is in virtue than in vengeance: 
Go release them, Ariel: 
My charms I'll break, their senses I'll restore,
And they shall be themselves.

ARIEL: I'll fetch them, sir.

[Exit.]

PROSPERO: Ye elves of hills, brooks, standing lakes and groves,
And ye that on the sands with printless foot
Do chase the ebbing Neptune and do fly him
When he comes back; you demi-puppets that
By moonshine do the green sour ringlets make,
Whereof the ewe not bites, and you whose pastime
Is to make midnight mushrooms, that rejoice
To hear the solemn curfew; by whose aid, 
Weak masters though ye be, I have bedimm'd
The noontide sun, call'd forth the mutinous winds,
And 'twixt the green sea and the azured vault
Set roaring war: to the dread rattling thunder
Have I given fire and rifted Jove's stout oak
With his own bolt; the strong-based promontory
Have I made shake and by the spurs pluck'd up
The pine and cedar: graves at my command
Have waked their sleepers, oped, and let 'em forth
By my so potent art. But this rough magic 
I here abjure, and, when I have required
Some heavenly music, which even now I do,
To work mine end upon their senses that
This airy charm is for, I'll break my staff,
Bury it certain fathoms in the earth,
And deeper than did ever plummet sound
I'll drown my book.

[Solemn music.]

{Re-enter ARIEL before: then ALONSO, with a frantic gesture, attended by GONZALO; SEBASTIAN and ANTONIO in like manner, attended by ADRIAN and FRANCISCO: They all enter the circle which PROSPERO had made, and there stand charmed; which PROSPERO observing, speaks:}

A solemn air cure thy brains,
Now useless, boil'd within thy skull! 
There stand, for you are spell-stopp'd.
The charm dissolves apace,
And as the morning steals upon the night,
Melting the darkness, so their rising senses
Begin to chase the ignorant fumes that mantle
Their clearer reason. O good Gonzalo,
My true preserver, and a loyal sir
To him you follow'st! I will pay thy graces 
Home both in word and deed. Most cruelly
Didst thou, Alonso, use me and my daughter:
Thy brother was a furtherer in the act.
Thou art pinch'd fort now, Sebastian. Flesh and blood,
You, brother mine, that entertain'd ambition,
Expell'd remorse and nature; who, with Sebastian,
Would here have kill'd your king; I do forgive thee,
Unnatural though thou art. Their understanding
Begins to swell, and the approaching tide 
Will shortly fill the reasonable shore
That now lies foul and muddy. Ariel,
Fetch me the hat and rapier in my cell:
I will discase me, and myself present
As I was sometime Milan: quickly, spirit;
Thou shalt ere long be free.

ARIEL (singing while he dresses PROSPERO)

Where the bee sucks. there suck I:
In a cowslip's bell I lie;
There I couch when owls do cry. 
On the bat's back I do fly
After summer merrily.
Merrily, merrily shall I live now
Under the blossom that hangs on the bough.

PROSPERO: Why, that's my dainty Ariel! I shall miss thee:
But yet thou shalt have freedom: so, so, so.
To the king's ship, invisible as thou art:
There shalt thou find the mariners asleep
Under the hatches; the master and the boatswain
Being awake, enforce them to this place, 
And presently, I prithee.

ARIEL: I drink the air before me, and return
Or ere your pulse twice beat.

[Exit.]

GONZALO: All torment, trouble, wonder and amazement
Inhabits here: some heavenly power guide us
Out of this fearful country!

PROSPERO: Behold, sir king,
The wronged Duke of Milan, Prospero:
To thee and thy company I bid 
A hearty welcome.

ALONSO: Thy pulse
Beats as of flesh and blood; and, since I saw thee,
The affliction of my mind amends, with which,
I fear, a madness held me: this must crave,
An if this be at all, a most strange story.
Thy dukedom I resign and do entreat
Thou pardon me my wrongs. But how should Prospero
Be living and be here?

PROSPERO: First, noble friend, 
Let me embrace thine age, whose honour cannot
Be measured or confined.

GONZALO: Whether this be
Or be not, I'll not swear.

PROSPERO: You do yet taste
Some subtilties o' the isle, that will not let you
Believe things certain. Welcome, my friends all!

[Aside to SEBASTIAN and ANTONIO.]

But you, my brace of lords, were I so minded,
I here could pluck his highness' frown upon you
And justify you traitors: at this time
I will tell no tales.

SEBASTIAN: [Aside] The devil speaks in him.

PROSPERO: No. 
For you, most wicked sir, whom to call brother
Would even infect my mouth, I do forgive
Thy rankest fault; all of them; and require
My dukedom of thee, which perforce, I know,
Thou must restore.

ALONSO: If thou be'st Prospero,
Give us particulars of thy preservation;
How thou hast met us here, who three hours since
Were wreck'd upon this shore; where I have lost--
My dear son Ferdinand.

PROSPERO: I am woe for't, sir.
yet I have lost my daughter.

ALONSO: A daughter?
O heavens, that they were living both in Naples,
The king and queen there! that they were, I wish 
Myself were mudded in that oozy bed
Where my son lies. When did you lose your daughter?

PROSPERO: In this last tempest. Howsoe'er you have
Been justled from your senses, know for certain
That I am Prospero and that very duke
Which was thrust forth of Milan, who most strangely 
Upon this shore, where you were wreck'd, was landed,
To be the lord on't. Welcome, sir;
This cell's my court: pray you, look in.
My dukedom since you have given me again,
I will requite you with as good a thing;
At least bring forth a wonder, to content ye 
As much as me my dukedom.

{PROSPERO reveals FERDINAND and MIRANDA
playing at chess.}

MIRANDA: Sweet lord, you play me false.

FERDINAND: No, my dear'st love,
I would not for the world.

MIRANDA: Yes, for a score of kingdoms you should wrangle,
And I would call it, fair play.

ALONSO: If this prove
A vision of the Island, one dear son
Shall I twice lose.

SEBASTIAN: A most high miracle!

FERDINAND: Though the seas threaten, they are merciful;
I have cursed them without cause.

[Kneels.]

ALONSO: Now all the blessings
Of a glad father compass thee about! 
Arise, and say how thou camest here.

MIRANDA: O, wonder!
How many goodly creatures are there here!
How beauteous mankind is! O brave new world,
That has such people in't!

PROSPERO: 'Tis new to thee.

ALONSO: What is this maid with whom thou wast at play?

FERDINAND: The daughter to this famous Duke of Milan,
Of whom so often I have heard renown,
But never saw before; of whom I have
Received a second life; and second father
This lady makes him to me.

ALONSO: I am hers:
But, O, how oddly will it sound that I
Must ask my child forgiveness!

PROSPERO: There, sir, stop:
Let us not burthen our remembrance with
A heaviness that's gone.

GONZALO: Look down, you god,
And on this couple drop a blessed crown!
Was Milan thrust from Milan, that his issue
Should become kings of Naples? O, rejoice
Beyond a common joy, and set it down
With gold on lasting pillars: In one voyage
Did Claribel her husband find at Tunis,
And Ferdinand, her brother, found a wife 
Where he himself was lost, Prospero his dukedom
In a poor isle and all of us ourselves
When no man was his own.

ALONSO: [To FERDINAND and MIRANDA.] 
Give me your hands:
Let grief and sorrow still embrace his heart
That doth not wish you joy!

GONZALO: Be it so! Amen!

{Re-enter ARIEL, with the Master and Boatswain
amazedly following.}

O, look, sir, look, sir! here is more of us:
I prophesied, if a gallows were on land,
This fellow could not drown. What is the news? 

Boatswain: The best news is, that we have safely found
Our king and company; the next, our ship--
Which, but three glasses since, we gave out split--
Is tight and yare and bravely rigg'd as when
We first put out to sea.

ARIEL: [Aside to PROSPERO.] Sir, all this service
Have I done since I went.

PROSPERO: [Aside to ARIEL.] My tricksy spirit!

ALONSO: These are not natural events; they strengthen
From strange to stranger. Say, how came you hither?

Boatswain: If I did think, sir, I were well awake,
I'ld strive to tell you. We were dead of sleep, 
And--how we know not--all clapp'd under hatches;
Where but even now with strange and several noises
Of roaring, shrieking, howling, jingling chains,
And more diversity of sounds, all horrible,
We were awaked; straightway, at liberty;
Where we, in all her trim, freshly beheld
Our royal, good and gallant ship, our master
Capering to eye her: on a trice, so please you,
Even in a dream, were we divided from them
And were brought moping hither.

ARIEL: [Aside to PROSPERO.] Was't well done? 

PROSPERO: [Aside to ARIEL.] Bravely, my diligence. Thou shalt
be free.

ALONSO: This is as strange a maze as e'er men trod
And there is in this business more than nature
Was ever conduct of: some oracle
Must rectify our knowledge.

PROSPERO: How fares my gracious sir?
There are yet missing of your company
Some few odd lads that you remember not.

{Re-enter ARIEL, driving in CALIBAN, STEPHANO
and TRINCULO, in their stolen apparel.}

STEPHANO: Every man shift for himself; 
Coragio, bully-monster, coragio!

TRINCULO: If these be true spies which I wear in my head,
here's a goodly sight. 

CALIBAN: O Sycorax, these be brave spirits indeed!

SEBASTIAN: Ha, ha!
What things are these, my lord Antonio?
Will money buy 'em?

ANTONIO: Very like; one of them
Is a plain fish, and, no doubt, marketable.

PROSPERO: These three have robb'd me; and this demi-devil--
For he's a bastard one--had plotted with them
To take my life. Two of these fellows you
Must know and own; this thing of darkness I
Acknowledge mine.

CALIBAN: I shall be pinch'd to death.

ALONSO: Is not this Stephano, my drunken butler?

SEBASTIAN: He is drunk now: where had he wine?

ALONSO: And Trinculo is reeling ripe: where should they
Find this grand liquor that hath gilded 'em? 
How camest thou in this pickle?

TRINCULO: I have been in such a pickle since I saw you last!

SEBASTIAN: Why, how now, Stephano!

STEPHANO: O, touch me not; I am not Stephano, but a cramp.

PROSPERO: You'ld be king o' the isle, sirrah?

STEPHANO: I should have been a sore one then.

ALONSO: This is a strange thing as e'er I look'd on.

[Pointing to Caliban.]

PROSPERO: He is as disproportion'd in his manners 
As in his shape. Go, sirrah, to my cell;
Take with you your companions.

CALIBAN: What a thrice-double ass
Was I, to take this drunkard for a god
And worship this dull fool!

PROSPERO: Go to; away!

[Exeunt CALIBAN, STEPHANO, and TRINCULO.]

PROSPERO: Sir, I invite your highness and your train 
To my poor cell, where you shall take your rest
For this one night; in the morn
I'll bring you to your ship and so to Naples,
Where I have hope to see the nuptial
Of these our dear-beloved solemnized;
And thence retire me to my Milan, where 
Every third thought shall be my grave.

ALONSO: I long
To hear the story of your life, which must
Take the ear strangely.

PROSPERO: I'll deliver all;
And promise you calm seas, auspicious gales
And sail so expeditious that shall catch
Your royal fleet far off.

[Aside to ARIEL.]

My Ariel, chick,
That is thy charge: then to the elements
Be free, and fare thou well! Please you, draw near.

[Exeunt.]


EPILOGUE 
................................................................................

SPOKEN BY PROSPERO

Now my charms are all o'erthrown,
And what strength I have's mine own,
Which is most faint: now, 'tis true,
I must be here confined by you,
Or sent to Naples. Let me not,
Since I have my dukedom got
And pardon'd the deceiver, dwell
In this bare island by your spell;
But release me from my bands
With the help of your good hands: 
Gentle breath of yours my sails
Must fill, or else my project fails,
Which was to please. Now I want
Spirits to enforce, art to enchant,
And my ending is despair,
Unless I be relieved by prayer,
Which pierces so that it assaults
Mercy itself and frees all faults.
As you from crimes would pardon'd be,
Let your indulgence set me free.